this morning on "early today," earl arrives. the hurricane brushes north carolina just in time to ruin labor day plans. again a massive fire erupted another massive platform sending workers into the sea. that's got to hurt. a motorcyclist is sent somersaulting by a pickup truck in iowa. captions paid for by nbc-universal television >> hello. good morning. i'm lynn berry. today we begin with storm surge. the california coast is riding out the effects of hurricane earl this morning while folks in the north are on the watch for hurricanes and tropical force storm winds. earl is expected to whip up dangerous waves and threatening

rip tides all along the east coast all throughout the day. kristin dahlgren is in north carolina outer banks with the latest. good morning. good morning, lynn. we've been feeling some of the powerful bands of wind and rain in the last few hours in north carolina's outer banks. wind gusting at 40 to 50 miles per hour. take a look here, you can see the rain literally going sideways through most of this time and the surf is pounding the shore. the waves coming up to the dune lines at times. officials say they will be out at daybreak doing patrols and looking for damage, the coast guard also ready to go out and do flyovers looking for damage. they will have thursday rescue helicopters ready if needed there. so far, damage, of course, has been light. we have reports of 200 people without power. also, the highways, swells to my south have been washed over near

rodanthe, that's been closed at this point. that's the only road on to and off of some of the southern portions of the outer banks. this is just some of what the rest of the east coast is in for as earl makes its way up to the north. the island of massachusetts has been declared states of emergency as well as maryland, virginia, and north carolina have been. that's the latest from kill devil hills, north carolina, i'm kristin dahlgren. lynn, back to you. kristin dahlgren, thank you. where is the storm head? for more on that, we'll check in with bill karins. the pictures are incredible. that's before we made landfall. that's what we avoided with earl. >> 50 miles per hour weaker now than it was yesterday at this time. it weakened significantly and took a jog to the east. that also helped to keep the worst of the storm off of the outer banks. it's still bad, but the worst of it is off of the coast. the winds are continuing to gust. the gusts are at 53 at hatteras

and nags head. we have not had hurricane force winds on the coast. we're not going to see significant damage. it will be difficult to get around with the heavy rain and road flooding. but the wave action will be the big story up and down the east coast. i come back later, how close the story will come from cape cod later tonight. >> thanks so much. an oil platform fire right off of the louisiana coast spark fears of another oil disaster in the gulf. 13 workers initially reported an explosion onboard sparked the blaise. however, the platform ear owner said it was simply a fire and not an explosion. the coast guard reported a mile long oil slick has begun and had begun to spread. hours later they were not able to find the fire. engineers removed the cap of

bp's blownout well. that will treat the failed blowout prevender to help investigators find what caused the deadly explosion in april. here's stories making news. in iowa, police dash cam captured dramatic video of a head-on collision. a local college football player was riding his motorcycle through an intersection when a truck attempting to turn smashed right in to him. now amazingly, the motorcyclist who wasn't wearing a helmet got up and walked away. the driver was cited with failure to yield. and in texas, police are looking for a group of well-coordinated robbers who used a stolen pickup truck to crash into a store and steal an atm machine. police say the band of thieves got away with a couple hundred dollars using another stolen vehicle to smash into the machine. unfortunately, damage done to the start is worth more than the money and the machine combined.

in texas, police seized nearly 20,000 pounds of marijuana with a street value of $10 million. the mature four-to-12-foot plants were found in a densely forested area outfitted with an irrigation system and lookout platform. no arrest have been made. and in florida, a miami dolphin training session came to a complete stand still when defensive end lang ford lost his 2.5 carat, $50,000 earring. he forgot to remove his jewelry before practice and ended up losing one. the line searched the field but to no avail. brutal. now for a look at your national and regional weather, we check in with bill karins with the weather channel forecast. good morning. good morning, everyone wants to know in light of what it's doing in the carolinas, what is

it going to do to cape cod. a tropical storm warning. the cloud cover is starting to move northward rather quickly now as earl acceleratings. the core of the storm is off the coast. the strongest portion of the storm is expected to remain offshore. the wave and the damage from the waves is going to be the biggest story. 38-foot waves along the east of the storm. along the coast of the outer banks. the ten footers are approaching southern new england. the forecast track takes the storm off of nantucket later tonight. it's probably where it will occur. the forecast is improving here from cape cod this time yesterday. the storm is weaker and said to be a little weaker off of the coast. it's for our friends in the name as nova scotia will take the brunt of earl. in the rest of the country, in san antonio, a few storms but it's calmer around the u.s. now a look at the weather

outside your window. lots of cooler weather rushing in behind earl. not much rain in new york city at all during the day. long island will have a chance of getting some of the heavier rain bands. take a look at the -- another look at earl in the weekend forecast coming up. >> bill, thank you. wall street waits on job numbers, retailers score in august, and the number two burger chain is sold. early morning business headlines is straight ahead. plus a machete-wielding assassin win the hearts of moviegoers this weekend at the box office. >> college football is back in. we have our first upset. you're watching "early today."

good morning, everyone. welcome back to "early today," i'm lynn berry. here are your top headlines this morning. after more than five hours of direct negotiations in

washington yesterday, israeli and palestinian leaders have agreed on a framework for further talks. benjamin netanyahu and mahmoud abbas will miss every two weeks to broker a mideast peace agreement. a hostage situation unfolding outside of a gas station this week. police say the suspect threatened several people there before holding a knife to one hostage and trying to make his escape. the officer managed to subdue him with a taser. no one was hurt. the motive is still unclear. a washington state woman was recovering after suffering severe burns when a stranger threw acid in her face. the 28-year-old held a press conference yesterday after undergoing the first of what are expected to be several surgeries. last night, police released a picture of a suspect described as an african-american woman with slicked back hair. be careful of what you write

on facebook. after posting the defendant was going to be found guilty before the verdict, a woman was removed from the jury. she was ordered to pay a fine and write an essay about the constitutional right to a fair trial. now, an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 10,320 after gaining 50 points yesterday. the s&p rose nine points and the nasdaq climbed 23. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo, the nikkei add 5d 1 points, in hong kong, the hang seng rose 102. is far, every day has been a winner on wall street in the month of september. but depending on today's job number, that all could change very quickly. as with wednesday's gains, yesterday the data came thanks to positive data. investors nervously await the all-important august report on employment. economists expect the monthly

report will show a jobs market remains weak with a slight uptick in unemployment since july. a separate report ahead of today's august figures showed new claims for employment fell for a second straight week, slightly below forecast, but well above levels that indicate a healthy economy. data from the national association of relate realtors shows that pending home sales rose unexpectedly in july, boosting stock in home builders like hovnanian which climbed more man 5%. chip maker shares rose for a second day with broadcom leading the way up over 9% in that session. that's the best two-day stretch in over a year. back-to-school season was good for retailers as that sector posted better than expected august sales. shares in nordstrom jumped over 8%. selling itself to 3-g capital for $3.25 billion, skyrocketing the share, up more than 25%. and the bidding war is over for the data storage company

3par. hewlett packard raised its buyout offer to $33 a share, just over $2 billion total. topping an earlier bid from dell, forcing dell to bow out of the bidding. finally, on the heels of discovering dozens of bottles of 200-year-old ship wrecked champagne, divers in the baltic sea discovered the world's oldest drinkable beer, also over 200 years old. vintage booze for everyone. the red sox rocked the oriole, the phillies slammed the rocky, and college football return, including number two ohio state kicking off with a bang against marshall. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. when hurricane earl exits up the canada as we go through the weekend, nice cool canadian air will be rushing in. relief! your weekend forecast is coming up.

good morning, if you're just waking up on "early today," in sport, a busy night on the gridiron as college football season opened one a full slate of games. here's fred roggin with a early look at your sports headline. good morning, kicking off

the football season with 25 teams in action. jacoby harris making an early bid for the heisman trophy. 13 is a lucky number for miami. they won big, 45-0. one heisman hopeful. terrell pryor led number two, ohio state in a win over marshall. he capped off the first half of a 65-yard strike. buckeyes roll, 45-7. game of the night in salt lake, 15th ranked pittsburgh down 11 in the fourth quarter when they mounted a comeback. john bald winn, a 44-yard touchdown reception. utah up by three. dan hutchins with the tie and he missed. wait a minute, utah called time-out right before he kicked it. hutchins with another shot to tie the game. he nails it. pittsburgh rallies to force overtime. however, in the extra period, utah's joe phillips hits the chip shot for the win. utah with the first upset of the season knocked off 15, pittsburgh, 27-24 in o.t.

usc can't go to a bowl game, but they started the season with the trip to hawaii. the trojans wasted no time. matt barkley, david ausberry. usc won big on the big island. adrian beltre gets a solo shot to left. the red sox beat the orioles, 6-4. big inning for the sox, bigger for phils, nine runs in the seventh against colorado. chase utley led the way with a grand slam. they have a two-game lead in the nl wild card race. that's your early look at sports on "early today." have a terrific weekend. i'm fred roggin. does george clooney have a shot at the box office this weekend. the "early morning" entertainment headlines are ahead. plus, what are all these folks standing in line for? stick around, we'll tell you. you're watching "early today."

good morning. here's a look at hurricane earl. the storm has been pulling away from north carolina during the day heading to cape cod later on tonight. as far as the forecast goes this weekend, after earl goes by, what a great cool fall air mass, highs in the 70s in dc in new york in the 80s. boston, rain early saturday morning. by saturday afternoon, the sun will be out. the midwest will look really cool. minneapolis and chicago, highs in the upper 60s.

a fall-like air mass, but feels like summer from dallas down to the gulf. even to sunday, a lot of great weather out there as we head through the labor day weekend. if you're watching us on nbc 4 in columbus, ohio, you don't have to travel far to experience traditional greek, music, dancing, and, of course, food. check out the annual greek festival at the greek orthodox cathedral. that's the early today event of the day list. thank you. here's a look at the morning headlines and entertainment. at the box office this labor day weekend, three different films will battle it out for number one. the r-rated thriller, request it machete" features quentin tarantino and robert de niro, jessica alba, and lindsey lohan. 2007's "festival of gor" did disappoint. some see it taking number one with over $15 million. others see it back of the pack

with $10 million. next, the row manltic comedy "going the distance" features on again off again real life couple. their box office records are modest but with no other definite date movie or chick flick to compete with, "going the distance" could sneak in to the number one spot with $15 million. finally, the george clooney thriller, "the american" opens with so-so reviews. most experts feel it will have trouble passing $10 million. any takers this weekend? >> the girl next to me just saw the george clooney movie and she loves george clooney. highly disappointing. it's a dark movie. not like -- the previews make it seem like a jason bourne-type of movie. >> not so much. >> it's not. >> stand there and look good, george. >> doesn't take the shirt off. >> there's a winner. this comes from wthr, channel 13 in indianapolis, indiana where football fans got in on a "tweet" treat.

cincinnati bengals wide receiver chad ochocinco treated dozens of fans to a fan city free dinner. fans were lined up around the block minutes after he announced via twitter that the first people to show up would win a free meal. but be able to catch a glimpse or shake some hands seemed to be enough. i'm lynn berry and this is "early today," your first stop of the day, today on your nbc station.

hurricane earl spinning off the coast in the atlantic but there is good news, the track has changed slightly. good news for us but not necessarily elsewhere. >> i'm aaron gilchrist, it is friday, september 3rd and here is what we know about earl right now. currently a category 2 storm but remains a powerful one with winds greater than 70 miles an hour. tom will have the hatest? judgment a moment. the virginia national guard standing bywise many as 200 soldiers and air americmen. there is a no swim warning in ocean city, maryland until

tomorrow. chris gordon is live for us this morning. >> reporter: good morning, we're in ocean city at 37th street. behind me is the dune grasses. originally they were projecting rain of 1 to 2 inches but they said they won't be a rain event for ocean city, mostly wind. but the wind has been affecting the ocean. we have some pictures to show you from yesterday afternoon. this is down the beach a bit at 21st street where only the most experienced body boarders were allowed to ride the waves. everyone else was supposed to be standing from the knees to the waist only but the mayor said they can't chose the beaches but they could close the surf if it gets dangerous and it appears that's what they are doing.